In 2025, fire departments serving Richlands responded to 43 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $40K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 60% of all calls.
Jun peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
143 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $783K cumulative property loss. 3 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 7 | — | |
| 2022* | 7 | — | |
| 2023 | 39 | — | |
| 2024 | 47 | +20.5% | |
| 2025 | 43 | -8.5% |
* Well below Richlands's usual volume. That almost always means one or more departments didn't submit a full year to NFIRS, not that fires dropped, so no year-over-year change is shown for it.
For the 4 building fires Richlands departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 35 building fires investigators classified across 2021–2025. The room or location where ignition occurred — kitchens, bedrooms, exterior, vehicle areas — tells you where to focus prevention.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cooking area, kitchen | 6 | 17.1% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 5 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Vehicle area, other | 4 | 11.4% | |
| 4 | Storage area, other | 3 | 8.6% | |
| 5 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 3 | 8.6% | |
| 6 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 5.7% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 5.7% | |
| 8 | Structural area, other | 2 | 5.7% | |
| 9 | Fuel tank, fuel line | 2 | 5.7% | |
| 10 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 5 | 14.3% |
NFIRS Heat Source (HEAT_SOURC) — the physical thing that started it. Spark or ember from operating equipment, an open flame, smoking materials, or hot embers from a fireplace are the leading culprits nationwide. Here's the Richlands mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arcing | 14 | 40.0% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 6 | 17.1% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 6 | 17.1% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 11.4% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Chemical reaction | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Lightning | 1 | 2.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Richlands departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 97% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $40,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $25,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $5,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $3,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $2,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Richlands sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
8 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 1 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 2 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 66,434 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 5,832 | 16.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 4,850 | 14.7 mi | |
| 1994 | Fireworks | 4,552 | 40.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,475 | 40.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,200 | 41.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Fireworks | 3,186 | 42.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,100 | 45.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,859 | 46.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 2,575 | 35.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,533 | 35.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,500 | 40.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,500 | 44.1 mi |
Top 2 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Virginia cities with population within ±25% of Richlands. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Richlands.
A 30-minute weekend can cut your home's exposure substantially. These four checklists are a good starting point.
Numbers reflect incidents reported by participating fire departments to the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) Public Data Release for calendar year 2025. NFIRS is voluntary — about 23,000 of roughly 30,000 US fire departments report — so totals are a strong indicator, not a complete census. Per-capita comparisons use 2023 ACS population estimates. Wildland fire data complements NFIRS with NIFC and USFS perimeters. Active-fire counts come from a dated NIFC snapshot, not a live feed.